1960s: Central Florida Before Disney Changed It Forever

Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FloridaGilded/videos%E2%80%A2%20?sub_confirmation=1 On November 15, 1965, Walt Disney walked into the Egyptian Room of a hotel beside Lake Eola in downtown Orlando and ended a year of guessing. A mystery buyer had been quietly piecing together land southwest of the city, and the rumors had named steel companies, aircraft builders, carmakers. That afternoon the guessing stopped: Walt's company owned about 27,000 acres of Central Florida — twice the size of Manhattan — most of it swamp, cattle pasture, and pine. Last year 76.7 million people visited the Orlando area. In 1960 the whole county held 263,540. This is the story of how two highways crossing in open country decided the future of a region, and what it cost the places that were there first. Sources: https://www.inkl.com/news/florida-land-acquisition-disney-secretly-bought-27-443-acres-deal-reshaped-walt-disney-world https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPCOT_(concept) https://worldofwalt.com/mystery-in-central-florida-disneys-secret-land-purchase-in-the-1960s.html